YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → The Root of all Things | Bhante Joe

The Root of all Things | Bhante Joe — Transcript

by Dhamma-Vinaya Patipada · 4,365 words · 698 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00All right, everyone. So, we can do a
0:02short reflection on the Dharma.
0:28>> [clears throat]
0:31>> So if anybody's ever read the sutapitika
0:36at the end of almost every suta there's
0:39this stock phrase that gets repeated
0:43which is that the bikus were satisfied
0:45died and delighted in the words of the
0:48blessed one.
0:50But there's actually one suta in the
0:52canon which says the opposite
0:55says the bikus did not delight in the
0:58words of the blessed one.
1:01It's a very interesting suta and it's
1:04called the moola paraya suta
1:07which means the root of all things.
1:12So according to the commentaries, the
1:14monks who are listening to the suta were
1:17part of a tradition called samka.
1:20And in samka, they're looking for what
1:23the cause of the universe is, what the
1:27origin of the universe is.
1:30And as the Buddha goes through and as he
1:32gives this discourse,
1:35he kind of makes it seem like he's going
1:37to give the answer in some ways.
1:40>> [laughter]
1:41>> starts off talking about earth.
1:44Says, you know, people perceive earth as
1:46earth. They perceive earth as mine. And
1:49he goes through all of the elements.
1:53Then he goes through all the different
1:54heavens. He says, "People perceive the
1:56four great kings as the four great kings
1:58and they perceive the four great kings
2:00as mine. It's basically belonging to
2:02me."
2:04He goes down and he goes through many
2:06different elements in the universe. And
2:08then he says the tatagata doesn't
2:11perceive earth as earth etc. And he
2:14doesn't perceive earth as mine.
2:18And as a result he's unbound.
2:21He doesn't come back to rebirth
2:24because of his lack of clinging.
2:28So one of the very important things in
2:30Buddhist practice is actually the
2:33framework for which people practice.
2:36the framework in which they conduct
2:39their search.
2:41So I remember as a young man I once
2:44listened to this dumbat talk and it was
2:46by actually a young monk and he gave
2:50this interesting simile.
2:53He said imagine there was somebody in a
2:55parking lot who had lost their keys
2:58and didn't know where to find their
2:59keys. And so another man were to come
3:03along or a woman and were to see this
3:05person searching under a lamp post. I
3:09say, "Well,
3:11what are you doing?" So I'm looking for
3:13my keys. So Oh, did you lose them here?
3:17No, I lost them over there. [laughter]
3:20What are you looking here for? Well,
3:23because it's bright here.
3:25It's easy to look. [laughter]
3:30And so the framework in which a person
3:32conducts their search is actually the
3:34most important thing for whether or not
3:36their search is going to be successful.
3:40So the Buddha has this suta in which he
3:42says that right view is the forerunner.
3:46A right view is the chief. And for any
3:49wholesome quality, any good thing
3:52essentially that a person wants to have
3:54in their life, there's three things that
3:56circle around it.
3:59One is right view, the other is right
4:03mindfulness
4:05and the third is right effort. And these
4:08three things circle around any good
4:11thing that a person wants to come into
4:13their life. Whatever they want in their
4:15world for it to come into being. In
4:18general, these qualities have to be
4:21present for them to develop the
4:23faculties necessary.
4:26So when the Buddha talks about right
4:28view, he doesn't talk about a particular
4:31view about where the world comes from
4:34kind of what is the origin of the
4:36universe. What he talks about is a
4:39framework for a search.
4:42It's kind of a map in which we can
4:46conduct an investigation into what we're
4:48looking for.
4:50And this framework is the four noble
4:52truths.
4:54So a person who has right view is a
4:57person who sees things in terms of
4:59suffering,
5:00terms of the cause of suffering, terms
5:03of the sessation of suffering
5:06and in terms of the path leading to the
5:08sessation of suffering.
5:10They break their world up in this way
5:13and kind of look at their world in this
5:15way. But in order to look at their world
5:18in this way, they have to shine a light
5:22because usually those aren't the places
5:24which are illuminated by the world in
5:26general.
5:30So when a person comes to practice
5:33meditation or to practice Buddhism,
5:36there's many different things that we
5:37can hear, many different things that we
5:40can learn
5:42and many different things that we can
5:43study. And in order to sort them out,
5:47it's important to have this as our
5:48framework.
5:50What is it that causes suffering and
5:53what is it that brings it to an end?
5:56Because it can be very interesting to
5:58dive into philosophies
6:00kind of, you know, where did the world
6:02come from and where does it go?
6:06But it's interesting that the Buddha
6:08actually laid out these 10 things which
6:10a person shouldn't think about. And one
6:12of them is, is the world finite?
6:16Is the world infinite?
6:18Does the tatagata exist after death?
6:22Does he not? Or does he both or neither?
6:27Or who am I? Where is this being going?
6:33And all of these types of questions lead
6:35to certain views. And these views are
6:38not in the framework of the four noble
6:40truths.
6:41person develops the view I have a self
6:45or I have no self or it's with the self
6:48that I see the self or the self is just
6:52this knower that's aware and that's
6:55watching and that sees things separately
7:00having developed views like this a
7:03person can't evaluate to what extent
7:06they're causing suffering and stress
7:10so one of interesting things about the
7:12way that the world originates
7:15in this suta.
7:18When we look at the way that things come
7:19into being as the Buddha describes them,
7:22he changes the framework from how the
7:25universe evolves to how the world
7:28evolves for us.
7:30Says you conceive of earth as earth, you
7:34conceive of earth as mine. And what this
7:37means essentially is that for everybody
7:40the world comes into being for them
7:43through desire.
7:45It's because of desire that their world
7:47comes into being. And because of desire
7:51that they go from place to place, that
7:54they conduct their search, whether in
7:57the light or in the darkness, whether
8:00where their keys are
8:03or where it happens to be
8:05easiest to look
8:08dependent on desire.
8:12So desire is an important part of our
8:14path
8:16because everything comes into being
8:18through desire.
8:20What it means is that to the extent that
8:22a person wants their world to be a
8:24particular way, they want it to be a
8:27certain
8:29way, have certain qualities.
8:33They have to desire that a lot in order
8:36to have a view that it's good. in order
8:39to be mindful to bring it into being,
8:42in order to put forth effort so that it
8:45becomes the way that they expect, so
8:48that it becomes the way that they like.
8:51And what this means is that there's a
8:54bifurcation.
8:56There's two ways that these things can
8:58go.
9:00Desire can take a person out into the
9:02world to search under the spotlights for
9:05their keys.
9:07Where's my key? I was kind of I don't
9:09know, but this is where the spotlight
9:11is. Take a search. Or desire can take a
9:14person to shine a light into the
9:18darkness
9:19and to see things that they haven't seen
9:22before,
9:23to look into places that they haven't
9:25looked before.
9:28So part of the genius of the Buddha is
9:31that he actually takes the elements of
9:33ssara.
9:35He takes the elements that typically
9:38bind a person to more suffering and uses
9:42them to overcome suffering.
9:45And so we have desire that leads onwards
9:48to more desire and we have the desire
9:51that leads to the ending of desire.
9:55And how is that the case?
9:58How can that happen for a person? Well,
10:01that desire should lead to the end of
10:03desire.
10:05There's this very interesting concept in
10:08psychology.
10:10I can't remember the official name now,
10:12but it always sticks in my head as
10:14gradual substitution.
10:16Kind of when you want to give something
10:19up, then you grab onto something that's
10:22a little bit less bad.
10:25So, you want to give up smoking. Maybe
10:27you stop smoking and start vaping.
10:30[laughter]
10:32Then eventually you stop vaping and you
10:35start eating healthy and going to the
10:37gym. And in this way you gradually
10:40replace a coarser habit with a more
10:43refined habit. And what lies behind this
10:46is desire.
10:49What lies behind this is a view.
10:52What lies behind this is effort. And
10:55these three things circle around to
10:58shape a person's world
11:01to make a person's world what it is
11:04both for them externally
11:07but more importantly for them internally
11:09in a sense externally.
11:13So the Buddha lays out his path in such
11:16a way that it leads onwards. It's an
11:19interesting phrase that is given to the
11:21dharma. said to be openayo
11:24openayo is sometimes translated as
11:27leading inwards
11:29but the actual translation is leads
11:31onwards it goes forward
11:35something that moves ahead and doesn't
11:38stand still
11:41and so I remember when I was a young man
11:44told this story to a couple of people I
11:47used to like to go swimming in these
11:49lakes in Canada
11:51And Canada has these kind of murky
11:54lakes. They're not connected to an ocean
11:56usually and they're just freshwater
11:58lakes. They're very beautiful, but you
12:02can't see to the bottom of them. It's
12:04not like, you know, swimming in
12:06Australia or swimming, you know, maybe
12:09some places in Sri Lanka. The ocean in
12:11Sri Lanka is actually pretty ferocious
12:13in some places. You can't really see
12:16right to the bottom of the lake, so you
12:18don't know what's there.
12:20So, I remember there was one time that I
12:23went to this campsite. It was called Bon
12:25Echo. My mother took me there and it's
12:28rumored to have like a Loch Ness
12:30monster.
12:31[laughter]
12:33They they think that there might be this
12:36type of fish there called a sturgeon,
12:39which is like a prehistoric fish, and it
12:42grows according to its environment.
12:45So, this lake is about 400 ft or
12:48something deep. It's quite deep and it's
12:51not wide. It's very black.
12:54And they've put nets down in there. The
12:56government of Canada has stuck these
12:58nets that will stretch across the whole
13:00lake. I guess weighted them down and
13:02descended them into the depths of this
13:05lake.
13:06And the nets have come back at least
13:09once or perhaps more with a hole in it
13:12that's one meter wide.
13:15You imagine like a little minnow or
13:17something how long the body is in
13:20comparison to its diameter.
13:22Kind of extrapolate that to a one meter
13:25wide diameter fish. [laughter]
13:29So in any event, I used to like to go
13:32snorkeling and I would snorkel in
13:34different places
13:36and what I found with snorkeling in
13:38Canada, you would go a few feet in front
13:40and then you could see another few feet.
13:43You go another few feet in front and
13:45then you could see another few feet. You
13:48really couldn't plan your whole
13:50destination
13:52based on what you could see all the way
13:54to the bottom. You kind of jump into
13:56this lake with the sturgeon. I don't
13:59think I got very far. [laughter] Was
14:01maybe, you know, 10 meters or something
14:05and I thought I'm going to turn back.
14:06You know, time to get back to the
14:07surface.
14:11But at any event, the Buddhist path
14:12leads onwards in a similar way.
14:15And for all of us, propelled by desire,
14:18we learn to turn our desire into a
14:22framework where it's most productive,
14:25into a framework where it searches for
14:27the end of suffering. And what is it
14:29that we see when we go there?
14:34What is it that we see when we direct
14:36our mind there?
14:38What we see are the things that are
14:39present immediately to us
14:42that have been pulling us off again and
14:46again and again.
14:50And this is where the work of leading
14:52onwards is. It's not far away.
14:56Doesn't lie in a very intricate theory.
15:01It's just a few feet in front of us.
15:04that thing which always seems to be
15:06throwing us off
15:08and how is it that we stop it
15:12to the extent that a person learns how
15:14to replace the things that are causing
15:18them to suffer
15:20with things that cause them to suffer
15:22less things that give less happiness
15:26with things that give more. It's to this
15:28extent that they start to learn about
15:31the way in which they create the world.
15:35They start to learn about the root of
15:39all things because where is it that all
15:42things originate?
15:44Where is it that all these things will
15:47come to cease?
15:49You learn about these things by going
15:51forward a few feet,
15:53eliminating a little bit of your anger,
15:56getting rid of a little bit of your
15:58anxiety.
16:00And when you do, then you see what's
16:02three feet in front. Another three feet
16:05in front is another thing to conquer.
16:09Another piece of territory in the mind
16:11to subdue,
16:14another fruit of the path to pluck and
16:18consume so that it nourishes us more.
16:22And in this way, the Buddhist path leads
16:25onwards. Step by step, foot by foot,
16:30quality by quality, a person grows in
16:33the dharma and then they look back and
16:36see what they're like.
16:38So I remember when I was doing the
16:40snorkeling,
16:42although you could only see three feet
16:44in front of you into this kind of
16:46darkness,
16:48when you look back, you could see all
16:50the way up to the surface.
16:52Maybe see when it rains these little
16:54drops of rain on the surface and there
16:57you are kind of underneath the water
16:59just kind of choke glo doesn't really
17:02matter how much wind
17:05[clears throat] is beating against the
17:06surface what the waves are like on the
17:09surface
17:10what the temperature is even like to a
17:12certain extent on the surface all of
17:15that changes the further and the deeper
17:18that you go further onwards that you
17:23you can still look back and see where
17:25you came from.
17:28And so in a similar way, as we practice
17:32to let go of our coarse qualities,
17:36the qualities that pull us off again and
17:39again,
17:40what we realize is that these qualities
17:42are actually a layer over the mind.
17:46They're the way in which we conceive of
17:49earth as earth.
17:51We conceive of earth is mine.
17:54The way we conceive water as water,
17:58water is mine.
18:00Four great kings is the four great kings
18:03and the four great kings is mine.
18:06It's the way in which this entire world
18:09spins out and becomes something that we
18:12possess.
18:13And when we come to possess it, it's
18:16like being on the surface of the water.
18:19The wind can blow, can whip a person
18:22around.
18:24But the further onwards that we go, the
18:27more that we let go of these things, to
18:29the extent that they change, we don't
18:31have to change with them.
18:34And this is one of the things that the
18:35Buddha means. He says, don't conceive of
18:40earth as mine. Then what happens to
18:43earth is not our problem. [laughter]
18:48It's not something that has to change
18:51the way that we think.
18:54So another quality of the dhamma is that
18:56this is said to be known individually by
18:59the wise. It's another reason that this
19:02framework is one of asking ourselves
19:07what is it that I'm doing to cause
19:10myself to suffer?
19:12What is it that I'm doing to make myself
19:16happy?
19:18And how is it that I can develop myself
19:21so that I can increase the ease in my
19:24mind and decrease the suffering?
19:29You have this as our framework, then our
19:32desires are heading in the right
19:33direction, but they're heading in a
19:36direction that's different from where
19:38they headed before.
19:40They're actually heading in a direction
19:42in which they reduce and in which they
19:45in a sense self-destruct.
19:49Learn to use your desires to overcome
19:53desires.
19:56So we learn to
20:00face ourselves
20:03to the extent that we kill living beings
20:06to steal
20:08to the extent that we used to tell lies
20:11to the extent that we used to take
20:13intoxicants. We learn to stop that and
20:16we learn to replace it with other types
20:18of happiness.
20:20Learn to replace that with the happiness
20:22that comes from meditation.
20:24learn to replace that with the happiness
20:26that comes from things like having a
20:28good and restful sleep [laughter]
20:31which is something you can't take for
20:32granted.
20:34But that also leads onwards
20:37from there. What is it that you see or
20:40from virtue? You see restraint
20:43as you leave your house as you go about
20:46the day. Before when you used to go into
20:49the street, you used to see somebody,
20:52their words or their actions would
20:55penetrate your mind. They would say
20:58something. You would see a billboard and
21:01it's like it would come right into the
21:03head like a ball thrown into a lump of
21:07clay.
21:09But now you learn to restrain your mind
21:12so that when you see something, you
21:14don't allow the mind to rush out to it.
21:17And so it bounces off of you more.
21:20And what do you see after that?
21:23Well, you develop yourself further so
21:25that you can take a topic of meditation
21:28and hold it in mind no matter what it is
21:31that you do.
21:33And this becomes the basis of your life,
21:37the basis of your desires,
21:39the basis of how you live and what your
21:42world is made of.
21:45Would you like your world to be made of
21:49peace?
21:51Would you like it to be made of
21:52compassion?
21:54This is the way that you make it that
21:56way to the extent that it fills one's
21:58mind.
22:01And when a person has taken up a
22:02meditation topic in this way, when their
22:05mind becomes calm, then it's much easier
22:08for them to look backwards,
22:11to look backwards and see where it is
22:13that they've come from and to see the
22:16pattern
22:18behind these things.
22:20the path
22:22on this earth.
22:24Water is water.
22:27Fire is fire. And wherever it is that a
22:29person grabs onto, it's to that extent
22:32that they're tossed around.
22:35So eventually
22:37what a person can see in all of this is
22:40that to the extent that they have to put
22:42something together
22:45to the extent that they have to produce
22:46something it's to that extent that they
22:49can consume it and that applies all
22:52across the world in anything that's
22:56desirable that's pleasing
22:59that's pleasant to have if a person
23:02stops maintaining it then it falls falls
23:04away.
23:06And so our desires can look for
23:08something higher than this. What is it
23:12that's higher than the things that we
23:14have to maintain than the things that we
23:17have to produce?
23:19And in this way, our mind inclines
23:21towards something that isn't
23:23conditioned.
23:25So the Buddha directs us onwards in this
23:27way. Not for the sake of showing how the
23:30world originates and how the world
23:34expands,
23:36but he directs us onwards in this way to
23:38show essentially how our world starts
23:41with us.
23:43It starts with the things that we grab
23:44onto and expands outwards.
23:48Expands until our minds are like the
23:50lake
23:52gets whipped around by the wind.
23:55And so when we direct our desires in
23:57this framework, what is suffering?
24:00What's its origin? What's its sessation?
24:04What's the path leading to its
24:06sessation?
24:07It leads in a direction in which our
24:10world shrinks.
24:13Rather than expanding, it contracts.
24:16It leads onwards from the things which
24:18used to cause our mind to jump to the
24:21things that used to cause our mind to be
24:23still.
24:25whittleles down to see where the root
24:28what the cause of all of this is until
24:31you can see that desire itself
24:34is the root and the cause and you can
24:38let go of that.
24:41So at the end of this suta the monks did
24:43not delight [laughter]
24:46in what the Buddha taught. They were
24:48hoping that he would give them a theory
24:51about how the universe originated.
24:54But instead, he gave them a map.
24:57Gave them a map to show how it is that
24:59they create what they experience
25:02and how they can bring their experience
25:05of suffering to an end.
25:08And although they didn't delight in that
25:09suta, many monks in the ages since have
25:13because of its importance,
25:16because of its frame.
25:18Because if we want to find what we're
25:20looking for, we can't just look where
25:23it's bright,
25:25under the spotlight where it's easy. We
25:28have to shine the light of our wisdom in
25:31the areas that we haven't looked before,
25:34in the areas that are right in front of
25:36us.
25:37that have been throwing us off all
25:39along.
25:40Look for our keys there.
25:44Look for what we're searching for there.
25:47You'd be surprised what you might find.
25:51So, I think that I'll leave that for
25:52reflection.
25:54And
25:57shall we open up for any questions if
25:58anybody has questions? Amy, what do you
26:01think?
26:03>> That's a great idea. If anyone wants to
26:06raise their hand and ask a question,
26:08feel free to or just pop it in the chat
26:11if you don't feel like raising your
26:12hand. And we've only probably got uh,
26:16you know, less than 10 minutes for a
26:18couple of questions. So, jump in.
26:24>> First one's always the hardest.
26:29I
26:30>> think Gam's got a question there. Bante,
26:33>> great. time you have a question.
26:37>> Okay. Uh yes, b I have a couple of
26:40questions actually on [clears throat]
26:42>> one on this suta and uh the second one
26:46was on the dama chakapawatan sutra. Can
26:49I check with you on them?
26:52>> Sure. Yeah.
26:54>> Okay. I maybe my connection was not so
26:57great but I missed out on the fact that
27:00how does Buddha connect
27:03uh the earth as not earth uh water as
27:07not as mind and fire as not mind and
27:12uh how how does one interpret this this
27:16whole thing basically as in meaning it
27:18is not uh is it is it is he talking
27:21about unbinding or is it talking about
27:23some some something much more deeper uh
27:26than
27:28the what I understand.
27:29>> Yeah.
27:31>> Yeah. So, one of the really important
27:32things to understand when we're reading
27:35the sutas
27:37is that many many sutas contain what we
27:40call like a complete teaching. So, I
27:43think I touched on this the other day.
27:45So, in other words, the Buddha takes the
27:47entire universe and he breaks it up in
27:50different categories.
27:52So one of those categories is the five
27:54kandas. Another is the six sense spaces.
27:58In this suta he breaks it up into maybe
28:00like 20 or 30 categories. And he
28:03basically goes through all those
28:04categories and says don't conceive this
28:06category as yours. And when you don't
28:09conceive this category as yours then you
28:11won't basically come back to birth and
28:13death. So what he's essentially
28:16describing is that when a person has
28:18craving for anything in the world then
28:21it's because of that craving that they
28:23take birth they become somebody they
28:26become something and he's saying that
28:29when you let go of that towards
28:30everything in the world then that's when
28:32you're unbound. So essentially that's
28:35the meaning of that it's a shorthand the
28:37way that he gives that list for
28:39everything in the world. So you can just
28:40think of it as the whole universe
28:41essentially.
28:46>> Thank you. Thank you. Can I can I ask
28:49the second question onaka?
28:54uh after reading the dhhamachaka pawan
28:57suta
28:59uh at the end of it uh Buddha declares
29:02that kana has seen kana knows because
29:06kana makes a statement saying that
29:09whatever is subject to arising is
29:11subject to passing away
29:14but having read the sutra from top to
29:18bottom and having read heard what Buddha
29:21said from on the damachakapa suta
29:25I couldn't fathom as to where exactly is
29:29this impermanence mentioned in in the
29:33suta in terms of whatever is subject to
29:35arising is subject to passing
29:40>> the very first of the four noble truths
29:42is essentially describing
29:44um that it is because of attachment to
29:48the five kundas that a person suffers
29:51>> and so it's not it's not exp you don't
29:54have to look at it as being explicitly
29:56mentioned. It's essentially that that
29:58was enough for Kondana to understand
30:00that if you attach to anything in the
30:02world then you will suffer because of
30:05the attachment because it changes
30:08and if you relinquish that attachment
30:10then you won't suffer anymore.
30:13But I mean it's important to understand
30:14when you read these descriptions of
30:16somebody gaining the dhama eye that it's
30:19not an intellectual understanding that
30:22they've gained. That type of knowledge
30:24is one that doesn't even have to arise
30:26with words. It arises at the same time
30:29as the sessation of the feathers. And
30:31the experiences that accompany it differ
30:33from person to person. So essentially
30:36what it means is that a person is ready
30:38to let go of the whole world. And what
30:42that translates to is essentially to
30:44letting go of both life and of death. So
30:48it's a very strong desire that comes to
30:50the end of desire. So in venerable Ana
30:53Kondana's case, I mean those five
30:56aesthetics have been striving to find
30:58the end of rebirth in the wrong way for
31:01a long time. So you can say that his
31:04mind was already primed and being primed
31:07in this way he was prepared. You know he
31:09basically was looking for the answer and
31:11when he found the answer he was prepared
31:13to let go. So it would it would have
31:17been in the five kundas and then in the
31:19sessation of suffering portion in which
31:21you know you let go of craving or
31:24attachment to the five kundas and then
31:26you don't suffer anymore.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of The Root of all Things | Bhante Joe by Dhamma-Vinaya Patipada, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 4,365 words across 698 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.